


What We Feared

by okemmelie



Series: What We Did [2]
Category: Nightmare Time - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, canon compliant to tgwdlm specifically, each character have their own chapter, everyone's a bit sad it's what happens, it very much ignores the canon of the hatchetfield ape man, it's going to be fairly short chapters because not everything needs to be long for no reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26814457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: The meteor promised to give them what they wanted. It lied. Instead it gave them what they feared
Series: What We Did [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955686
Comments: 25
Kudos: 24





	1. Bill

**Author's Note:**

> wouldn't it be fucked up if a meteor crashed into your town and suddenly, you were faced with your worst fear?  
> not a sequel to "what we wanted" despite existing in the same series, rather a counter piece that works in a similar fashion. if you only read this, you'll miss absolutely nothing

Divorce papers. There’s divorce papers on the table in front of him.

Logically, he knows it’s for the better. Knows that this is what they’ve agreed on, that this will be better for Alice. She doesn’t deserve watching her parents fight.

His hand shakes as he picks up the pen. Why is this so difficult when he knows it’s what he wants? The divorce, of course. But more importantly: He wants what’s best for Alice. Even if he could have something else, it’s not what he wants. He signs them.

At first, things are fine. Sure, he’d much rather have Alice live with him full time and let her visit his ex-wife on weekends, not the other way around. But he gets to see Alice and he gets to be a cool dad, a  _ good  _ dad. He takes her to museums, aquariums, he buys her ice cream at the mall and takes her out eating wherever she wants to go. He spends time with her when she’s there and makes sure she knows that he loves him.

Then she meets Deb. They’re just friends at first, but Deb smells exactly like his college roommate, but she assures him that she doesn’t smoke weed and Alice tells him not to ask anymore. He loves Alice so he doesn’t, but he makes it very clear that he does not like her.

They start dating and Bill doesn’t keep it a secret that he doesn’t like her. Deb’s rude and she drags Alice along to things she  _ definitely  _ shouldn’t get involved with.

Every weekend becomes every other weekend. He doesn’t want her to slip away. That’s the worst thing that can happen. But it seems like everytime he holds on tighter, she fights harder to let go. And he’s terrified.


	2. Ted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two characters from nightmare time mentioned, no spoilers though

Lucy Stockworth is the ray of sunshine in Ted’s otherwise busy and borderline insufferable life. The final year of college is kicking his ass every single day, but Lucy keeps him happy. He’d like to think he keeps her happy too.

Maybe it’s naive and a little stupid, but Ted doesn’t mind being naive and a little stupid when it comes to love. He’s always been a hopeless romantic, he’s always loved big romantic gestures and ever since he met Lucy, he’s loved her. They’ve been together for almost four years and lived together for nearly two, and Ted knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with her.

So he buys her a ring. The prettiest one he can find, one he just  _ knows  _ she’ll like. It’s not an engagement ring; he wants to respect her boundaries and they haven’t talked about that yet.

And he’s right. She does love the ring like he thought he would. She smiles and then she stops.  _ I have to break up with you,  _ she tells him and confesses to having cheated on him with Jonathan fucking Brisby of all people. He hates that guy.

He doesn’t tell his friends that Lucy cheated on him, but he does express his sadness. He even cries when one of them is over to play video games one night. He figures that hey,  _ these people are my friends, they’ll have my back _ . But they don’t. Instead, they make fun of him for his sadness, for being upset.  _ You’re a grown man, _ they tell him.  _ Act like it. _

As soon as college is over, he cuts off all ties with his college friends, packs up his things and moves across the country to a small town called Hatchetfield. Maybe running away isn’t the best option, sure, but staying fills him with dread.

He looks at himself in the rear-view mirror while sitting in the parking lot in front of his new job at CCRP. Rejection is a horrible feeling, one he never wants to feel again, so he swears to himself that he won’t let it happen.

If he just keeps everyone at a distance, there’s no way he can get hurt again.


	3. Charlotte

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for emotional abuse in this one. stay safe

There’s quiche all over their floor. Quiche and broken glass. And it’s her fault.

She knows it. And Sam knows it as well, because his hand is raised and there’s an angry expression on his face. She isn’t afraid, because her Sam wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t. He can’t want to hurt her. She can’t imagine Sam wanting to hurt her. She just can’t.

And he doesn’t. Because Sam is kin and Sam is good and Sam wouldn’t hurt her. Instead he places a hand on her cheek and lets the angry expression melt into something much, much softer. “You’re a bit incompetent, you know that right? And a bit stupid.”

There’s nothing for her to do except nod, because she does know it. And obviously he does as well. She just dropped their dinner, after all. Someone competent wouldn’t do that.

He laughs. It’s cold but that’s okay, because she  _ did  _ just drop their dinner. “I forgive you. Most other people wouldn’t have, but I believe in second chances. Promise me you won’t do that ever again?”

Quickly, she nods. “Of course not!” She presses a soft kiss to his lips. “I promise that I won’t ever do anything like that ever again. I’m so thankful for your forgiveness and I’m so sorry about all this.”

“Good,” he says. “I’m going to go watch the news. Think you can handle cleaning up and cooking something quick for us on your own, or do you need help with that? Can’t have you ruining any more dinners, after all.”

“No, no. I’ll be alright, but thank you. You go enjoy yourself; you’ve earned it. I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

“Thank you, love.” He kisses her cheek and carefully steps over the ruined quiche. “Be quick.”

She nods and gets started, putting pasta on the stove immediately before getting started on the cleaning up process. Sam is right; no one else could ever love her like he does and she’s lucky to have him, but terrified of ever messing up again. If he doesn’t love her, she’ll be alone. So she needs to make sure Sam loves her. She needs him to.


	4. Emma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> give it up for emma

The Nantucket bridge towers over her. It feels like it’s already swallowing her and she hasn’t even stepped on it yet. She supposes that, in a way, it will swallow her.

Hatchetfield is a black hole. It sucks people in, is what it does. It sucks people in and it never lets go and that’s why she’s back here. Because Hatchetfield is just like that. Because it’s impossible to escape.

And of course it’s fucking  _ Jane  _ who had to go and bring her back. It’s always Jane, isn’t it? Taking all the attention and leaving none for her. Ruining her life.

Of course she’s upset that her sister is dead. She loved her, in her own way. Sisterhood isn’t always love and roses. Often it is not. And with Emma and Jane, often is always. But she loves her. That’s why she’s back in the first place.

Emma liked backpacking. She liked running away from her problems rather than facing them, she liked the idea of not dying in Hatchetfield. A town that loved and praised her sister; a town that ignored her. Dying in Hatchetfield was the last thing she wanted, because it meant everyone was right. She truly hadn’t amounted to anything.

But they were right. As she looks at her hometown getting more and more clear as she makes her way across the bridge, she knows they were right. Everything is exactly like they were when she left. Her existence has amounted to nothing and she’s quite sure everything will be exactly like she always feared; still fears.

She’s going to die in Hatchetfield and everything she’s done will have meant nothing. Her time will have been wasted and she'll become yet another victim to the sad fates that befall every single person in this town.

There’s one step left. One more step and she’ll be in Hatchetfield. She sighs. Will she really let her fear consume her? Doom her? She laughs, but it’s bitter. She’s going to conquer her fear, she decides as she steps onto the island she’s always hated. She’s going to get out of here, she’s going to amount to something, she’s going to make a difference. The most powerful emotion in the world is spite and she has plenty.

She  _ will _ escape. And she won’t die trying. She’ll succeed. She’ll amount to something. She has to.


	5. Paul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pour one out for the cast of horror comedy musical "they guy who didn't like musicals"

Paul is a pretty simple guy. He was born and raised in Hatchetfield, and it wasn’t that he loved it here but he didn’t dislike it either, so he stayed. And that was fine.

When he finished high school, he didn’t really know what to do; but there was an open position at the company his father worked at at the time and since it only required picking up the phone and writing some reports, he took it. It was right in front of him, so why not? It wasn’t what he wanted to do, but it also wasn’t something he didn’t want to do. He didn’t even know what he wanted to do, so he figured that whatever this was, it was fine.

Sometimes he went on dates. He never really  _ dated  _ anyone, because when they asked if he wanted to take the relationship further, he never knew what the answer was. Because it wasn’t that he didn’t like them, but he also didn’t know if he liked them enough to want to dedicate that much time to them. But he didn’t mind not dating for now, so it was fine.

Paul liked the life he had. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t too glamorous either. He was just some guy and he liked it like that. Anything more than that sounded stressful and it wasn’t really his scene.

It wasn’t that Paul hated musicals. He just didn’t like them. Musicals were filled with characters who wanted something and expressed that through song and dance. Paul didn’t want anything, not anything big or grandiose anyway, and he didn’t like how they always made it seem like everything was about wanting.

It wasn’t that Paul didn’t care about the planet. It was just that he didn’t see how his contributions would help. He was just one person; he couldn’t save the planet single handedly. He didn’t care, but he didn’t not care. Saving the planet was just too big of a task.

He knows Charlotte. He knows she desperately wants to be with her husband, that she desperately wants to be loved and to do good. He’s seen it numerous times at the office, when Sam has called her and cancelled their plans. And he sees it now, as she begs for her husband to stop singing and save them.

Charlotte wants something. And it dooms her.

He knows Bill. He’s been friends with Bill since even before the divorce and he knows how much he cares about Alice. All he does, he does because he cares about her and because he wants to reconnect with her. He loves her desperately and he just wants to reconnect with her. He’s seen it numerous times at the office where he’s spent work hours looking for gifts for her or trips for them to go on, together. And he sees it now, as he refuses to accept that the thing singing is not his daughter.

Bill wants something. And it dooms him.

He doesn’t know Ted. Ted says they’re best friends, but Paul barely knows him. He doesn’t know what exactly Ted wants, but by the time he does die, the aliens have hammered it into his head that everyone wants something. Whatever Ted wants, he’s sure that’s what dooms him. That’s what these things have done to his actual friends, at least.

He barely knows Emma, but he knows she wants something. She wants to not die in Hatchetfield, she’s told him that and he believes her. Now, Paul might have a major crush on her, but to him she seems like some kind of action hero. She has a plan, one that’ll save the world (hopefully). But she can’t do it. Her leg doesn’t work and she can’t do it.

Paul doesn’t want to save the world. He doesn’t actively want not to either, but he doesn’t want to be the one who does do it. It’s too much responsibility in his hands and he doesn’t want it. But he has to. And that scares him.


End file.
